A classical batsman with a wide range of shots and seemingly all the time in the world to play them, Martin Crowe came from a cricketing family - his father had played in the first-class game and brother Jeff represented New Zealand - and made his Test debut aged 19, quickly being tagged with the label of best young batsman in the world. He broke a series of record, despite being blighted by injuries which included a broken shin, back trouble, torn hamstrings and in latter years, serious knee injuries.

With Richard Hadlee, Crowe was at the heart of a New Zealand side which enjoyed considerable success in the 1980s After an excellent season at Somerset in 1984, he was lured back to lead the side in 1987. But it followed the departure of Viv Richards, Joel Garner and Ian Botham, and the spell there was not happy and was also blighted by some barbed media coverage of his private life.

Hadlee's retirement only served to increase the pressure on him, but in 1994 he led the line, almost hobbling at times, with 380 runs in three Tests against England. He carried on for another 18 months but the final few Tests were too much for his crumbling body.

After retiring, he took up as a commentator with Sky in New Zealand as well as heading their cricket coverage behind the scenes. He was also the man who came up with Cricket Max, for a time a success in New Zealand but a format which never caught on elsewhere.
Cricinfo staff